“Father and the Führer’s War” from Endeavors at UNC–Chapel Hill

When his mother died in 1965, Konrad Jarausch gave away all her possessions except a few paintings, some photographs, and a brown briefcase full of letters. “I held onto them because they were the only link to my childhood, a way of keeping my mother’s memory alive,” he says. “And I suspected that if I wanted to meet my father later, I might be able to do so through these letters.”

Jarausch eventually read these letters in 2005 and discovered not only a wealth of family history, but also a unique soldier’s perspective on life at the Western front during WWII:

For Jarausch, the letters shatter the myth that ordinary army units were innocent. Regular soldiers, not just the SS, caused the deaths of millions of POWs, rural Russians, and Jewish civilians.

This discovery moved Jarausch to assemble the letters into a book — Reluctant Accomplice. Read more about Konrad Jarausch and the stash of letters that represent his only connection to his father here: http://endeavors.unc.edu/father_and_the_fhrers_war. They also have some terrific artwork — sketches and personal photos — from Jarausch’s own archives.